Earnings Labs

BlueLinx Holdings Inc. (BXC)

Q3 2014 Earnings Call· Thu, Nov 6, 2014

$55.95

-1.18%

Key Takeaways · AI generated
AI summary not yet generated for this transcript. Generation in progress for older transcripts; check back soon, or browse the full transcript below.

Same-Day

-4.00%

1 Week

-6.40%

1 Month

-7.20%

vs S&P

-8.83%

Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good afternoon. My name is Angel and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the BlueLinx Third Quarter 2014 Earnings Conference Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers’ remarks, there will be a question-and-answer period. (Operator Instructions). Thank you. Ms. Lowden, you may begin.

Caroline Lowden

Management

Thank you, Angel. And good afternoon everyone. Thank you for joining us to the BlueLinx third quarter 2014 earnings conference call. This call is being webcast on the company’s website at bluelinxco.com. The earnings release and presentation slides for this call can be found in the Investor Relations section of the company’s website. This presentation includes statements about our expectations for future, operational and financial performance as well as our credit agreement, liquidity position and capital structure that are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those provided, including, but not limited to risks and uncertainties with respect to economic, governmental and technological factors outside of our control and changes in the supply and/or demand for products we distribute, particularly as a result of conditions in the residential housing markets. These and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from forward-looking statements are discussed in greater detail in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this presentation. We undertake no obligation to revise them in light of new information. Finally, we undertake no obligation to review or confirm analysts’ expectations or estimates that might be derived from this presentation. This presentation includes references to adjusted EBITDA, which is a non-GAAP financial measure within the meaning of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Regulation G. A reconciliation of GAAP net income to adjusted EBITDA is included as an appendix and is posted on our website at bluelinxco.com. Our speakers this afternoon are Mitch Lewis, Chief Executive Officer; and Susan O’Farrell, Chief Financial Officer. Mitch will begin the call this afternoon with comments on the current results and a review of the business, then Susan will review the financial statements before opening the call to your questions. With that, I’ll turn the call over to Mitch.

Mitch Lewis

Management

Thanks Caroline and good afternoon. I’d like to talk briefly about the highlights of our third quarter and what we’re focused on and then I’ll turn it over to Susan who will walk you through our financials in more detail. Our third quarter was another solid quarter where we enjoyed improving results compared to our prior year performance. Our adjusted EBITDA of $11.1 million is a $3.9 million or 54% improvement from Q3 in 2013. It’s first time we had back-to-back quarters over $10 million since prior to the economic meltdown began at the end of the 2008. We’re pleased that the initiatives and efforts of our team of providing momentum in our performance and we’re just getting started. Our revenue for the quarter for the first time this year exceeded our 2013 performance on the same center basis as a markets continued their modest improvement. Same center sales for the quarter were up 3%, but to be fair, this increase was below the single-family housing starts increase of 7.1% for the quarter. As have been the case really all year along, our specialty products have outperformed our structural products on a comparative basis. We’ve discussed previously the long inventory position we took in structural products in the first half of 2013 and we sold off the remainder of this position in the third quarter of 2013, which again impacted our volume in structural products and led to the decline in our comparative structural sales in the third quarter of this year, which were down by 1.7%. Our specialty sales continue to performance better and increased from the third quarter of 2013 by about 6%, which is pretty much on pace with the increase of single-family housing starts for the quarter. While we did experience another decline in our structural…

Operator

Operator

(Operator Instructions). Your first question comes from Tristan Thomas of Sidoti.

Tristan Thomas - Sidoti

Analyst

Hey, how is everyone?

Mitch Lewis

Management

Good. Good afternoon, Tristan.

Tristan Thomas - Sidoti

Analyst

A couple of questions. First, Mitch you mentioned the -- forgive me if I’m not quoting a 100% right, but social products are actually at lower cost for you to get to your end consumer than specialty. Can you maybe provide just a little bit more color on that?

Mitch Lewis

Management

Yes. So, one of the things and Susan alluded to this, what we’re really becoming jealous about is the contribution margin overall product offering. And so, as you look at lower gross margin products to the extent for example you’re selling carloads of those products that for example has a lower cost and then when you’re selling a much smaller proportion of the truck, so you may have lower handling costs, you fill up the trucks, you have a lower a prudent unit of freight cost associated with the product category as well. So, we talk a lot about the gross margin of the business. And the one thing I wanted to just highlight was that sometimes while the gross margins look lower, it doesn’t necessarily tell the whole story.

Tristan Thomas - Sidoti

Analyst

Okay. So, is that simply just kind of an aspect of just as volume increases, structural become more efficient?

Mitch Lewis

Management

Yes. We think generally the structural which are much more commodity-based, there is a higher percentage that might be direct ship sales for example that has very low cost for the company, more higher reload percentages, which may have a lower cost as well. But for sure for all of our products as volume increases, the unit, logistics and operational costs should decline.

Tristan Thomas - Sidoti

Analyst

Okay, got you. So, what’s typically you’re going to do to try to drive structural volume?

Mitch Lewis

Management

Wells, one of the things that’s emphasizing it, I mean we have gone through a very rigorous process just recently in our incentive programs. We haven’t fully announced this yet to the team, but we’re looking at changes that we made last year that we think were actually counterproductive and might have negatively impacted the sales of some of the products. The focus again on looking at the overall contribution margin and the return on invested capital associated with the sales also I think drive us to better decisions and enable us to understand that we could actually can sell a lower gross margin that actually may have a higher return on invested capital for the company.

Tristan Thomas - Sidoti

Analyst

Okay. So, will it be kind of your ideal product mix in structural and specialty compared to where it is now?

Mitch Lewis

Management

Yes. And that’s a great question. We really aren’t set, we’re not setting targets, so no. Historically we’ve talked a lot about really trying to drive the organization to specialty mix. And that’s one thing I think is important to understand that the legacy of this company certainly has been much more into the structural basis. It’s enabling for us. I talked about try and get more share of the wallet from our existing customer base and part of that is giving them a product that maybe a lower margin might enable us to get products at higher margin. So, really we’re trying to push down decision making into the organization enabling them to make good local decisions and they need to look at the products and the customers on an independent and local basis. And we don’t really have a target for the mix at all.

Tristan Thomas - Sidoti

Analyst

Okay. Just could you touch on some of the local bridge making, how long has that been implemented?

Mitch Lewis

Management

We really rolled it out in terms of we had a strategic Board meeting in August where we talked about it at [Linx] with the Board of Directors and basically walked away from that was the decision to go to the organization and communicate that. So, I would say that end of August we started the communication and then we had these -- there were basic three hour sessions with roughly 30 independent general managers and the senior executive teams over a three week period or so that took place mostly in mid September through mid-October. And part of that was with the planning process, we’re really pushing a local approach to our planning session and to have really a step back, think line entrepreneur, think like a local manager to drive value that you can provide to your customer base at the local level.

Tristan Thomas - Sidoti

Analyst

Okay. So is it still little too early to maybe quantify any positive impact from that?

Mitch Lewis

Management

Yes, it’s very early. I will tell you the organization got very excited when you take notes from each of these meetings and you just talk through all of the opportunities that we have when we start thinking locally an entrepreneurially. I mean there is a long laundry list of opportunities that we’re driving through now as we speak.

Tristan Thomas - Sidoti

Analyst

Okay. Moving on just towards pricing for the fourth quarter and then maybe a little more in depth about 2014. I mean do you think we’re going to kind of stay at these levels or do you think we still have a little bit more room to run regarding just lumber and plywood?

Mitch Lewis

Management

That’s a great question. I’m smiling, I have to tell you, because I don’t, everybody in the organization that -- the thing about commodity is it’s really challenging to know what’s going to happen. And if you know what’s going to happen 90 days out, you probably should do that [without leaving]. So, I would tell you -- generally what we’re hearing is that it feels like there is some stability we might get the height of the market, but I would also tell you, I am really not qualified to tell exactly where it’s going over the next…

Tristan Thomas - Sidoti

Analyst

I was just kind of curious if you’ve gone up…

Mitch Lewis

Management

Generally the settlement is that it’s a stable to marginally declining over the next 90 days, but we’ll see.

Tristan Thomas - Sidoti

Analyst

Okay. And then just one final question. September has been a lot of mix kind of signals; I mean what are you kind of looking for outside of the weather for the fourth quarter? I mean do you think it’s going to be kind of that slow steady pace you’ve had the rest of this year or do you think it may decline a little bit moving into ‘15?

Mitch Lewis

Management

Yes. As you know, we generally don’t talk about the business going forward. I will say the sentiment is relatively flat. So, if you’re thinking that kind of 140,000 range that feels kind of what we’re hearing from our customers and the suppliers as well.

Tristan Thomas - Sidoti

Analyst

Okay, fantastic. Thank you guys.

Mitch Lewis

Management

Yes, sure.

Operator

Operator

Okay. Our next question comes from Alan Weber of Robotti & Company. Alan Weber - Robotti & Company: Good afternoon. When you talked about kind of the decentralized decision making, can you talk about I guess how far through that process you are? And also to really have to the general managers, have they always had the proper data to kind of interpret what the kind of P&L should be on incremental margins or which products are more profitable and like data or is that just more recent?

Mitch Lewis

Management

No, I would say the data was always here. There has been a historical trend at the organization to make a lot of decisions as it relates to product or movement of product, categories markets centrally. The data I think was generally here -- I mean the contribution margin that both Susan and I alluded to is something that we really drove the FP&A and accounting teams have done a terrific job in a very short period of time to come up with basically an internal tool that is fantastic as far as assessing product and a customer and how much the incremental sale or the loss of the sale would mean to deal from an operating profit of the company. So, the data always has been available. What we’re really trying to do is because of -- and really it’s the nature of the market, in my view. The economy obviously as you know in this market has been terrible; it led to layoffs; tighter controls that I think you have to have in a command and control type of environment and when your markets are suffering the way that the housing market has suffered. But the problem is that I think it’s negatively impacted the entrepreneurial spirit of the organization. So that’s a cultural shift that we really just started in the last 90 days or so. And with any cultural change in a large institution, it takes time. Some folks pick it up immediately and I’d say why did take it so long and some folks need a little nudging to take risk for making independent decisions. Alan Weber - Robotti & Company: Okay. And then you talked about some additional manufacturing that wouldn’t require much capital. What were you specifically talking about?

Mitch Lewis

Management

Well, there are few things I’m specifically thinking about. And several of these came out in the context of our strategic sessions that we had with the general managers, I mean one I could talk to is if you would think just of light, what I call light fabrication, maybe cutting lumber, cutting metals, very light manufacturing that does provide value-add to our customer base. So, this is not major capital equipment or major fundamental shift in what we’re doing but very light fabrication. Alan Weber - Robotti & Company: Okay. And then my last question is over the last year or so, you closed a few centers; can you talk about other, what changes that you see on the distribution side in terms of competitors or vendors like that that impact you besides just housing starts?

Mitch Lewis

Management

I’d tell you one of the things that came out of our discussions is the market opportunity and the market share that we have, which in the marketplace is highly fragmented. And as we were looking at the strategy for the business, we also did some deep dives into the competitive landscape. One of the things that really caught me off guard candidly that I did not expect when I came on board was half fragmented. The wholesale distribution market is for building products. So, if we look at for example, I think with the Atlantic region, don’t hold me to these numbers, but it was something like 70 plus competitors in that marketplace. And so, there is some consolidation that’s taking place, there are some regionals that are opening up, there are specialty wholesale distributors that are opening. But I look at it and I think the organization is looking at it now is what we have tremendous scale both in products and our footprint and certainly I think we have the most knowledgeable associates in the industry. And really the approach we’re taking is that literally our industry is a Blue Ocean for us. And so, the fact that there were trends that are changing or maybe changing from a wholesale distribution standpoint is not something that fundamentally concerns us or something that we’re really focused on. Right now we’re focused on servicing our customers better and gaining share and there is a lot out there that we can get. Alan Weber - Robotti & Company: Okay. Thank you very much.

Mitch Lewis

Management

Sure. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Your next question is from Mark Kaufman of MLK Investment Management Group.

Mark Kaufman - MLK Investment Management

Analyst

Hi, how you doing? My question is, when do you hope to start to see results from this move to the regional or local market focus? And also I’ve heard this issue about BlueLinx about a year before you arrived that it had become substantially operated in light of the recession and the class and housing industry. So, I’m just curious what kind of benchmark that you have or timeframe that you have, hope to see some of the improvements. And also if you could just comment what you’re seeing in the home improvement channel for your products?

Mitch Lewis

Management

Okay. Great question on the timing. And answer to that is immediate, I mean I’ve already seen it. Whether it’s quick reaction time to opportunities from new supply channels or supplier goods coming in where we’ve made what product managers have collaborated very closely for example with local management to make decisions about bringing new brands and products into the organization, which in the past would have been a centralized decision in all likelihood pushed down to the organization and in all likelihood we had a lot of inventory in place just that we would need them. So, the problem is characterizing that right when you’re talking about a cultural shift from centralized to decentralized. We’re not doing it intending to add headcount into the organization, but the actual amount of dollars that it’s immediately going to drive or long-term it’s going to drive, very hard to quantify. But I would tell you immediately we’re seeing changes comes in the organization that are benefiting the organization, a lot of which are taking blinders off with respect to opportunities, a lot of creativity going on and moving faster and being more nimble locally. The home improvement question, it’s improving, has improved and our expectations are it will continue to improve. And that’s a big component of some of our specialty products going into the home improvement market. So, we expect that to continue to prove and improve and be somewhat correlated to the single-family housing starts.

Mark Kaufman - MLK Investment Management

Analyst

And if I may I have a question maybe this is more Susan’s area. How do you count than for additional SKUs or inventory that would be for these various regions around the country by pace and essence. So, how does that feedback into the inventory working capital? Susan O’Farrell: Well, certainly a transition process we’re working through. So, what we’re finding is as Mitch alluded to, there is some inventory markets that’s terrific inventory, we just need to get it into the right market. It might have been central to a location where we’d sell beautifully in a region nearby. So, we like what we’ve got, it’s just a matter of do we have it always in the right place. That’s something we’re working through and as you might imagine there is transition to get there. But more importantly going forward, how can we unleash that inventory against now in the right place. We have that capital to invest more deeply into categories that are very performing in that local market and our local general managers as we know them, they are very clear on what sells in their markets, what brands, their customers’ needs. And so, we think that will be a favorable thing for us, but again, some work overtime, this decision is really just starting as far as then getting their feet in the water and understanding they have that capability to make those changes. So, early days, but we think we’ve got inventory just kind of get it into the right market.

Mitch Lewis

Management

Yes. And Mark I would add, as any good entrepreneur would approach our GMs are thinking about how to make most money and get the most return on investment and a lot of the dialogue is not so much about expanding product categories, it’s shrinking them. So, what should we be known for, how we’re going to service our customers, what in this market from a static standpoint is the customer base want more because of the competitive landscape in this market where our suppliers are located, what makes sense for us. So that natural as we’re talking through strategy session, I was kind of like you’re walking in wanting to see if everybody was going to say hey okay, triple my inventory with different product categories and where we really saw a lot of stuff and actually to the contrary people -- our team is very thoughtful about what should I have what should I be attacking and how should I strategically go after particularly identifying products to grow the business.

Mark Kaufman - MLK Investment Management

Analyst

So, I’ve got ask to this question, what would your target be or hope or minimum hope of an improvement in overall margin that this might lead to and I’m not talking about your gross margin or maybe a contribution margin like you’re saying all in. How many basis points or the percentage that you would hope that this might bring to the company?

Mitch Lewis

Management

We unfortunately don’t give future forecasts. I don’t blame you for asking, good question. You know, I can’t answer.

Mark Kaufman - MLK Investment Management

Analyst

That’s why I said hope. Susan O’Farrell: We appreciate your interest, Mark. Thank you.

Mitch Lewis

Management

Rest assured, we’re on it.

Mark Kaufman - MLK Investment Management

Analyst

Okay. Susan O’Farrell: Thank you Mark.

Mitch Lewis

Management

Thanks Mark. Have a good afternoon.

Operator

Operator

There are no further questions.

Mitch Lewis

Management

Okay, great. Well, thank you again as always for your time and for your interest. And we certainly look forward to sharing our continued progress with you in the months ahead. Have a great afternoon.